After a long moment more, Lara breathed in deeply and stood. She reached back and squeezed the water out of her braid, then turned to Raziel.

"Where to now?"

Raziel met her eyes unflinchingly. "If he's retreated up into the mountains, we're going to have to head up there. The problem is, the way up there is blocked by a Sarafan city. We'll have to pass through it to continue on our way."

"And let me guess," she stated with a sigh. "You're not popular with the crowd."

"Not particularly," he responded. "And you calmly travelling with me will mark you as a traitor."

"And a concubine?" she added testily. Raziel wisely did not comment. Instead, he headed into the forest, leaving her to follow or not at her choice. She cocked her head to the side slightly, then quickly caught up to him when she realized he had started to head toward the mountains. The peaks loomed over their heads and she realized they were quite close. There were more of the birds that vanished in a green luminescence around them and a new type of creature that looked like a tiny ball of light much like a firefly. Several flew into her face until she waved them away. Raziel gazed at her from the corner of his eye and watched as she breathed in deeply, tasting the air. Suddenly, she twitched and drew her pistols out in a swift move. She allowed her fingers to quiver around the handgrip of the gun slightly. Raziel turned slightly toward her.

"What do you feel, human? There are no Sarafan here."

She turned to him. "Contrary to the beauty and peace of this place, I never trust an area that's this quiet."

Though he knew there was nothing nearby to be cautious about, he had to give her credit for her wary nature. There was more to this woman than he previously guessed.

The path up to the mountains was long, but bland. There was nothing to fear for the time being, but Raziel knew that would change soon. He knew they were drawing close to the city. He'd be surprised if they didn't run into at least one hunting party. An eyebrow twitched. He actually looked forward to it.

His wish was granted a short time later when he sensed a large group of people ahead. He glanced at the human to see she was crouching down to pounce forward. He thought to make her pause and take them by surprise, then almost laughed at himself. She had taken down a demon with his help. These Sarafan warriors would stand for less time than it had. As a pair, they could go far.

Raziel shook his hand slightly and watched the ethereal pattern of the Soul Reaver manifest into existence. Though every time he used the Soul Reaver it threatened to take him over, he had no other appropriate weapon. He lunged forward only to find Lara moving in time with him. They were both hunters who would do whatever was necessary to win, and they had both found a partner in the other.

Lara dodged in and out among the Sarafan warriors, managing to keep an eye on Raziel as he slashed through a guard. The Soul Reaver flickered weakly until he struck another one. Its energy began to glow. The third slice left a burning gash on the third Sarafan warrior that fell to him. Lara eliminated a human coming toward her and watched in awe as Raziel's fourth kill was accompanied with a huge explosion, sending body parts everywhere. Lara commented wryly to herself that it looked much like when she blew someone up with her rocket launcher. And yet as she gazed at him, even though he seemed to fight with more grace, to cause more pain, his eyes dimmed slowly, almost in time to the Soul Reaver's growing glow. He seemed to be losing energy and vitality. It was almost like the energy weapon was taking him over. To avoid any such situation, Lara cut down the last Sarafan with her pistols. She suddenly noticed she could see a kind of green ethereal flame that hovered above the corpses that she had killed. The ones Raziel had killed did not have that flame. She cocked her head to the side as Raziel made the Soul Reaver disappear and he pulled the cloth away from his face, revealing the fact that he had no lower jaw. The flames raced toward his throat and just before they dove into his body, took the shape of green balls of energy. When he saw she was looking at him, he placed the cloth back over his mouth and shrugged.

"I eat the souls of those I kill."

"That's not what I'm wondering about," she responded. "You have no lower jaw, right?"

"Correct."

"How do you speak?"

He looked slightly perplexed that she would even think of that when she had just seen him eat souls, but answered, "I have gained the ability to alter the air and sound currents to create my voice. Don't ask any further. Just trust it works."

She turned away, but his voice stopped her. "I do have one question for you, however." She looked at him as he asked, "How do you shove so many things in your backpack?"

Lara pulled the backpack of her back and looked at it strangely. "Actually, I don't know. I've never paused to consider how much stuff it carries. I've just kind of put things in there and it's all fit somehow."

She opened it and looked inside when she noticed a strange pale green light emanating from the depths. She grabbed the light source and pulled out a very familiar green crystal.

"The restoration crystal," she murmured. "Why is it glowing?" She stood, still holding the crystal, and looked at her companion. Then she held it out to him.

"Take this for a second."

"Why?" Raziel glared ominously at the radiant crystal.

"Just take it."

With a sigh, he reluctantly took the crystal, thinking multiple names he would love to call this woman, but knowing that to keep the peace (for the time, anyway), it would be better he keep his mouth shut. Figuratively speaking.

The gem gave a sudden pulse and dissolved into a cloud of semitransparent glowing particles. They swirled quickly up into Raziel's face and surrounded his head. He tried to back up away from them, but at the same moment, they condensed on him, collecting below his jaw and over his neck. A fierce itching spread through his body in that area, something he hadn't felt for years. It faded when he reached up to find a solid form at his fingers. His throat had been closed over and the mist had formed a lower jaw, completing his face. He opened it carefully to find it a working replica. Lara watched him experiment for a moment, noting silently the fangs that rested in his upper mouth. At last Raziel spoke, using his new jaw.

"That was . . . odd," which was promptly followed up by, "I am out of practice speaking this way." He moved his jaw around a bit more before settling his mouth shut, then placing the cloth back across his nose. It had always been his personal symbol, but became even more so since his return from the Lake of the Dead. He turned to the Tomb Raider.

"Shall we continue? The city is only a bit farther from here. We can make it before nightfall. However . . ."

He trailed off, then before she could move, turned into a blur of movement. He pulled away a second later, but she found her top had rips in it as did her shorts. The shorts were in better condition than the top, however. Her top looked like it was about ready to fall off.

"Good," he grunted, not sounding particularly pleased, but not sounding disheartened, either. "We will get you in this way. You'll have to scream and go running up to the gates in a panic. The story is you ran into a vampire that tried to take a bite out of you and you came to the nearest place of safety. The vampire is still following you and is in the woods just a bit back, waiting to see if you'll come back out." As he spoke, he continued through the forest, stopping her when through the trees they could see a huge wall with a cathedral-looking structure looming over it.

"When they open the gates to go look for the vampire," Raziel continued, "I'll slip into the Spectral Realm and pass through the doors. From there we'll cross the city and get to the other side."

Lara turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised. "What is this Spectral Realm you speak of?"

"It is a realm next to and intersecting with this physical realm. It is where the spirits lie. Time runs differently there and to you what happens in a second takes minutes, even hours to occur for me when I'm in there."

"Hm . . ." she trailed off and looked to the large city. He started to push her forward, then paused.

"Oh yes, one other thing." Before she could react, he pulled her pack off her back and removed the pistols and the holsters from her legs and threw them in the pack.

"No weapons. They'll be suspicious if you have one. I'll give this back to you when we get in."

She growled unhappily. "I do not like being without a weapon."

"Oh well," he retorted. "It's necessary. Now go scream as if your life depended on it. If it helps," he added, "put all your frustration and hatred for me in it."

Lara grumbled for a moment before doing as was necessary. She didn't want to do it, but it wasn't like she had a choice. She raced out of the forest toward the city screaming, "VAMPIRE!" The two men on the watchtower saw her coming and shouted something down to their comrades below. She watched in satisfaction as the doors groaned open. She raced into the city and was met with welcoming arms.

"You were attacked?" a burly man dressed in full armor asked in a heavy accent. She nodded, acting too scared to speak.

"Is it still in the forest?" he continued. Again she nodded, letting her eyes get wide and quite scared-looking. For the first time in her life, she was quite grateful to the acting classes she had been forced to go through. He nodded shortly and a small group of men gathered around him and started out into the forest. A younger man, but just as large, pulled her away from the crowd and into a quiet corner. The people quickly dispersed, leaving her alone with this huge man and no weapons.

'Except one,' she murmured mentally, think about the dagger in her boot.

"Were you bitten?"

She was surprised to hear obvious concern in his voice. Concern! For a complete stranger!

"N . . . no," she managed out, sounding quite scared. "It was . . . just so, so—horrible!" If Raziel didn't show up soon, she was going to have to sweet-talk her way out of this, and she should probably get off to a good start if it was going to be necessary.

"I know," he replied sympathetically. "It will be harrowing for a while, but eventually—"

He never got to finish his sentence as her combat knife flew out of the darkness and plunged into his face, taking his life from him. Lara watched the body fall emotionlessly except for perhaps a hint of remorse. He had actually been kind of cute. Not in body, but in personality. She grabbed her combat knife, wiped it off on the body, and headed toward the dark shadow where she knew Raziel was.

"You, using a subtle method of killing?" she asked him. "It just doesn't seem right."

"That was subtle?" he responded, obviously thinking it hadn't been. Lara looked at him skeptically for a moment, then shook her head.

"Never mind. Where to now?"

"Across the city," he replied. He moved and looked up to the roof of the small house they stood next to. With a grunt of effort, he jumped up to the top, then pulled himself over, a jump that even Lara with her outstanding jumps could not reach. After a moment, the cloth that he always wore over his face dropped down, becoming a rope. She jumped out, caught hold, and was helped onto the roof. She watched as he spiraled the cloth around his face again and took off, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Lara followed after her companion as he nimbly moved across the labyrinth of houses. She was privately amazed; she had never seen someone able to move as easily as he. Even with the practice she had gone through, she couldn't even jump as effortlessly as he could. He paused on the other side of a large jump she knew she could make, but it would be an effort. She jumped back a few paces to get a run-up and dashed toward the end of the roof. Muscles contracted then released, leaving her in vacant air for a long moment. She caught hold of the edge of the roof and pulled herself up over the edge. Her foot caught on loose tiling and sent it careening down the smash on the cobbles next to a Sarafan guard. He glanced up to see the face of Raziel as he gazed down.

"Over here!" he called to his brethren.

"Not again," Raziel growled with a feral sigh. "Come, Lara. We have to get out of here. Now."

He raced across the tiles, Lara behind him. She heard multiple cracks of some fast moving object hitting the wall. When she glanced back, she saw the Sarafan were aiming a sort of primitive version of guns at them. She snorted contemptuously and followed Raziel as he jumped onto the wall surrounding the city and raced across it. When he reached the point that was the other side of the city from the main gates, he dropped to the ground on the outside of the city. Lara followed him and he twisted quickly and caught her before she touched the ground.

"Come along," he told her and continued into the forest while the city's second gates behind them creaked open. Raziel tossed her bag back to her as they ran. She threw it onto her back.

They stopped abruptly as they came to a huge cliff. A waterfall coursed down the mountain face not twenty feet from them. There was nowhere to go but down.

"Come here," he commanded. She paused only to wonder why on Earth she was listening to him before she stepped up in front of him.

"I am going to glide down there. You need to wrap your arms around my neck and hang on."

"Why don't I just dive into the water?" she inquired. With no offense to her blue-skinned companion, she didn't particularly relish the thought of hanging onto his neck as he glided down to the water. That would be a bit too close up and personal, thank you very much.

"I could make it."

"That actually wouldn't surprise me, but I'm not going all the way down. Now stop asking questions! You're wasting time."

Raziel grabbed Lara and jumped into the air as he heard feet pound the ground behind him. The remains of his wings snapped open and caught the air. He glided down about a hundred feet before turning toward the waterfall.

"Hang on," he warned Lara. He angled himself to go into the waterfall and through to the other side. The water encased Lara, then she was out and Raziel was gently setting her down on the rock floor of a hidden cavern. He turned back to the water, summoned the Soul Reaver, and charged it up for a bolt of power.

"Scream," he told her. "They need to think we burned in the water and fell to our death."

Understanding, she let out a cry of agony. She wasn't the screaming type, but she had nearly mastered the falling scream. Falling from heights over and over again had a habit of doing that to a person. Raziel fired the bolt of power at the same moment she screamed, and it rolled down the waterfall, making a respectable burning body. The two were silent for a long time, and when they didn't hear or see any signs of pursuit, Raziel visibly relaxed. He glanced around to find the Tomb Raider was gone. Startled, and he would never admit it, but panicked, he spotted her at the back of the cavern looking at the odd shades of the rock. She squatted and grabbed the edge of the rock and pulled. It turned out to be a square rock that could be pulled out. She managed to get it out so that the end was flush with the rock wall before she sat down and panted. Unlike most rocks, this one was heavier than normal. Raziel walked over to her. Lara suddenly found her blue-skinned companion standing above her, his legs bracing her back. He pulled his arms back and slammed his claws into the face of the rock. He looked like he merely twitched the muscles in his arms and the rock slid easily to the right. Lara looked up at him in an expression of half amusement, half-glaring.

"Show-off," she finally growled. He pulled the tabard away from his face for a moment to show he was smirking at her before he replaced it. Both walked into the small cave behind the rock. It was empty except for one thing which shed a familiar pale green light.

"Another restoration crystal?" Lara asked. She shrugged, having learned long ago when on the continent-island Atlantis not to ask. She turned to Raziel.

"I assume you're going to take it, right?"

"Of course."

Raziel reached out for the crystal, and as soon as he touched it, the symbol started glowing. Knowing what to expect, he braced himself when the crystal dissolved into insubstantial mist particles. They surrounded him and crept into his body, making what remained of his skin crawl. The mist solidified and dissipated to reveal a new, fully formed layer of skin, completing the outside of his body. It was still blue, but he held no arguments about that and wouldn't want it any other way. Lara blinked at him a few times, then shrugged and went back into the main cavern to put her back up against it and sleep.

Lara's eyes snapped open and she stood before yawning. She glanced around, reorienting herself, and saw Raziel was leaning against the mouth of the cavern's wall, looking out at the water. She moved up next to him as silently as a cat. At first, he didn't notice she was there. It was only when a flash of light out of the corner of his eye caught his attention did he notice her. The light had come from the pistols now replaced on either leg. His gaze continued up her body, across the torso, continuing up the chest and to the face. He didn't view looking at her in such a way the people of her world did; she understood that. It still made her uneasy to have him so blatantly looking at her. She swallowed the little bit of modesty that had risen (where had that come from?!) and turned to look at him.

"Today we continue down the river. I hope you don't mind getting wet again."

She looked down the waterfall, then grinned impishly at him.

"Well, I guess I did need another bath."

She glanced down, returned to looking at him with the same grin, then turned and dived down. He stepped forward to watch her graceful arc which ended in a splash. He shook his head, somewhere between amused and uncaring and jumped off. He knew he was comfortable around this woman, and he knew he was uncomfortable at the same time. She amused him, and after a millennia of hatred and burning revenge, it was hard to get used to the emotional change. He longed to go back to the days when it was as simple as killing Kain, and yet, another part of him loved this time as it was, right here and now. That part rebelliously whispered that he enjoyed being amused by this woman, and if the way things were going and he found enough restoration crystals, he would enjoy other sensations with her. His eyes flashed and he crammed the thought back to the recesses of his mind.